It has been a lean period for Great Western with only a handful of wins in the last three seasons, but coach Will Bell expects the 2018 season to be more positive.
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The Lions have brought in some key players in recent years while backing the club’s younger players, a plan that the second-year coach said should start taking the team up the ladder.
Bell said the preseason had been a positive with with the group ready to tackle the upcoming season head on.
“We have been really lucky, we have had a great commitment from the playing list and the numbers have been really good at training from the start,” he said.
“For a club that has been sitting down the bottom, it has been great to have 40 people at most sessions each night is great.”
He said it was a clear plan the club wanted to stick with to ensure it had the best chance of sustained success in the future.
“It will pay us back, we gave a lot of our kids 10-15 senior games during the year, and they will play senior games all year after their first big preseason,” he said.
“They will come up to seniors this year and be able to have fresh legs, rather than having played a junior game beforehand and already be fatigued.”
The make up of the team will be similar to the 2017 season with the majority of the playing list re-committing for the new season.
“We have only lost two players, due to travel commitments, so we have been really lucky going into this season,” he said.
“We have also been really active with bringing some players in from other leagues.
“We were not too bad down back, but we needed some more forwards.”
There are a few extra layers of the game plan that Bell will be hoping proves to be pivotal this season, as the players adapt to the tweaks that were implemented during the preseason.
Bell said it would be a more balanced style this year compared to 2017.
“Last year we had to look at an all out defensive game plan, based on the scores from games before I came in,” he said.
“This year I have been able to add in a bit more offensive structures to help us score more during games.
“I think the young fellas are looking ahead to getting the ball forward more often.”
The club will play its first practice match at the weekend, following some intraclub matches with the season opener less than a month away.
The club is training Tuesday and Thursday nights at Great Western Recreation Reserve and are still looking for any extra players wanting to pull on the boots for the 2018 season.
The Lions finished the 2017 season at the bottom of the ladder with one win.
Great Western will open its 2018 Mininera and District Football League season against Caramut on April 14.
